One of the major themes in sports these days has been value; both on the field and off the field. Guys who get paid a pittance and give production far exceeding said wage is one of the most sought after things. In an era where teams are paying roughly $6 million per Win Above Replacement from players, having a veteran catcher behind the dish to handle a pitching staff and get on-base at a solid clip for just shy of $5 million per season – it’s $4.775 million if you want to be exact about it – is quite the bargain. Is it possible that he’s providing more value than people realize, though?
Ever since former general manager Jerry Dipoto traded for Chris Iannetta in the late stages of November 2011, the catcher has proven quite useful to the Los Angeles Angels. In 2012, his first season in Anaheim, Iannetta was worth 1.3 fWAR and 1.3 rWAR. This was mainly due to his bat, which saw him produce an on-base percentage of .332, wOBA of .323, and wRC+ of 108. He did so in only 253 plate appearances, though. That was a byproduct of his lack of defense and pitch framing.
In 2013, Iannetta accrued 399 plate appearances. His .358 on-base percentage, .330 wOBA, and 112 wRC+ helped him post a 2.0 fWAR and 1.9 rWAR. Once again, the main reason he failed to see more playing time was due to his deficiencies in pitch framing and defense. That season, 256 plate appearances were taken by catchers on the team who were not Chris Iannetta. They totaled 1.0 fWAR.
Last season, the catching job was split between Iannetta and Hank Conger for the most part. Conger saw a career-high 260 plate appearances, five more than he saw in 2013. However, he didn’t produce the offensive numbers he did in 2013. Iannetta trumped his own 2013 numbers and posted a .373 on-base percentage, .343 wOBA, and 126 wRC+ to finish with 3.0 fWAR and 2.1 rWAR.
This season, the job was perceived to be all Iannetta’s. He was in a “walk year” and was surely going to play like it. Except he hasn’t; at least not offensively. In 266 plate appearances this season, Iannetta only has a .289 on-base percentage, .273 wOBA, and 76 wRC+. It’s the main reason he’s down to just 0.4 fWAR and 0.6 rWAR right now. The on-base percentage, wOBA, and wRC+ would all be career-low marks for him if any season he recorded 300 plate appearances in.
But it begs the question, is Chris Iannetta actually underrated right now? If you go off of the notion that each Win Above Replacement costs $6 million, then Iannetta’s 6.7 fWAR in his nearly four full seasons with the Angels translates into $40.2 million of worth. This coming from a guy who, over that same time period, has been paid a grand total of $19.1 million. He’s certainly no Mike Trout. No one is, obviously. He’s not even Kole Calhoun – a man who has produced 7.0 fWAR over the last two seasons alone and been worth $42 million while being paid just a shade over $1 million for his services – but that’s not necessarily a slap in the face, either.
Veterans like Iannetta are hard to come by, especially ones who have taken such a massive leap defensively. Thanks to StatCorner’s Catcher Report and Baseball Prospectus’ Advanced Catching Metrics, we can finally take a gander at the thing that Wins Above Replacement does not compute; pitch framing. It’s one of the most vital things a catcher does behind the plate. While being a calming influence to your pitcher is a huge plus, being able to trick a home plate umpire – and, let’s be honest, that’s what they’re doing – is a feat unto itself.
In 2012, his first season with the Angels, Iannetta posted a poor -4.8 RAA (Runs Above Average) according to StatCorner. In 2013, he actually was worse. Iannetta had a RAA of -15.3 and was the fifth-worst framing catcher in baseball. His former teammate, Hank Conger, graded out as the fifth-best with a mark of +18.1. Last season, Conger moved up to fourth (+21.3) and Iannetta actually improved, despite still finishing at -5.3. Yet this season has been vastly different.
According to StatCorner, Chris Iannetta has been the fifth-best pitch framing catcher in the entire league this season; accumulating +14.2 Runs Above Average. From where he was two years ago, you’re looking at a nearly 30 run difference just off of framing. He went from fifth worst to fifth best in what seems like the blink of an eye. And it’s not just StatCorner that bears this out. Baseball Prospectus also shows this.
Their statistic – Fielding Runs Above Replacement Added By Call – has seen Iannetta go from -10.4 in 2013, which was second-worst, to +6.4 this season, which is tenth-best. While they might disagree about where he sits overall, they both show that he’s improved upon his pitch framing so much that he went from one of the worst in the league to one of the best in just two seasons.
In fact, according to Baseball Prospectus, Iannetta has helped Angels pitchers receive 43.3 extra strikes this season. Last season, it was -17.9. Just two seasons ago, Iannetta actually posted a -69.8 in the extra strikes department which means he cost his team nearly 70 strikes just off of his poor framing. And he acknowledged it before the start of this season. In an article before the season began, Iannetta talked about how much he was working on his pitch framing. It’s certainly paid off so far.
As the article states, while pitch framing might not seem like that big of a deal, Baseball Prospectus has come to the conclusion that a good framing catcher could actually help provide two additional wins per season. If two wins doesn’t sound meaningful, realize that, in 2013, the Texas Rangers might have actually at least been the top Wild Card spot had they not allowed A.J. Pierzynski to catch 1005 innings. He cost the team 37.6 extra strikes and was a -5.6 in Fielding Runs Above Replacement Added By Call; he was also -12.8 in Runs Above Average according to StatCorner.
Every frame matters because every pitch matters which means every at-bat matters. If every at-bat matters then the entire game matters. And, once you realize that all 162 games matter, a beautifully framed 3-2 pitch that was just outside the strikezone but still gets called for a strike in the 5th inning of a 1-1 tie with the bases loaded and 2 outs of Game 37 matters just as much as it does in Game 162. They work in harmony together. That’s where Iannetta has improved. Take this pitch against the Kansas City Royals from this past Sunday night for instance.
That’s a 2-2 pitch to Eric Hosmer, who has been absolutely on fire since the All-Star Break. Hosmer has a .472 wOBA and 209 wRC+ since the break and looks like he’s turning into a monster at the plate. There’s a runner on second of a tie game and this pitch was a ball. Yes, the home plate umpire on Sunday was not exactly competent but this is still a great frame by Iannetta. Watch as he catches the pitch in the lower corner and snaps it up, in one motion, towards the middle of the plate to give the umpire a great view.
If a catcher isn’t able to throw out baserunners – and Iannetta is not a good catch-and-throw guy seeing as how he’s thrown out just 24.6 percent of would-be basestealers in his Angels career – then he better be able to receive and frame well. Iannetta has worked on his pitch framing in just one offseason. While his offense has definitely suffered this year, it’s hard to understand just how valuable he has been from a Wins Above Replacement standpoint. Especially since his pitch framing has been so superb this season.
Chris Iannetta is 32 years old and will turn 33 roughly a week into the 2016 season. He’s a free agent and the Angels will most likely look in-house to replace him. His replacement looks to be Carlos Perez and, while Scioscia seems to love him, he’s still no Iannetta. While Chris is having a down year at the plate, the team still knows what he can do there. Perez only has a .268 on-base percentage this season. Throw in a wOBA of .256 and wRC+ of 64 and it looks a tad scary when looking into the future. Outside of a brief stint in Triple-A this season where he hit .361 (on the back of a .381 BABIP), Perez has never been a hitter. He’s a defense-first catcher.
With a defense first catcher, he at least better be able to throw out runners or frame pitches at a reasonable above-average level; Perez has done neither at a high rate this season. According to StatCorner, Perez is -0.1 in RAA as a framer. Baseball Prospectus has him at +1.4. When it comes to throwing baserunners out, Perez has thrown out 32.4 percent of them. A higher rate than Iannetta, for sure, but not close as a framer.
Either way, the Angels will have an interesting offseason as far as catcher is concerned. Perez is a cheap option who came up being lauded as a defensive first catcher with good framing skills and a really good arm. The framing skills haven’t shown up but they still could. Iannetta has shown that it is possible. On the flip side, retaining Iannetta in the free agent market isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
The Angels put Jett Bandy on their 40-man back in late November of last year and that means that, in 2016, the team could roll out a Perez-Bandy duo behind the dish. Scioscia does love his veterans, though, so the possibility of Iannetta sticking around for a cheap deal due to his regression at the plate is certainly one of the interesting storylines of the upcoming offseason.
While Iannetta has definitely taken a step back at the plate, he’s taken a massive leap forward behind it. Iannetta isn’t what he used to be but he’s evolved in a game that is sometimes hard to evolve in. The Angels will have a decision to make and so too will he. In the end, Iannetta’s been a valuable member of the club for nearly four seasons and should be viewed upon with great favor. It’s not every day a catcher transforms himself into one of the league’s best pitch framers.
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